Resisting evidence: the study of evidence-based medicine as a contemporary social movement
Resisting evidence: the study of evidence-based medicine as a contemporary social movement
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) emerged relatively recently to describe the explicit process of applying research evidence to medical practice. The movement was high profile, yet not overly successful: many clinicians do not use up-to-date evidence in their everyday work. This article shows how a social movement perspective can be used to analyse the emergence of EBM and shed light on power struggles between segments of the medical profession. It draws on Blumer’s (1951) essay on social movements to demonstrate the continued salience of this approach. The article also presents empirical data from a qualitative study of English and American surgeons to illustrate how EBM provides a focus for segmental conflict within medical practice between ‘art’ and ‘science’, ‘practice’ and ‘evidence’. Together these data and the social movements perspective provide insight into the dynamics of this struggle and help to explain why clinicians continue to resist EBM.
evidence-based medicine, social movements, surgical practice
267-282
Pope, Catherine
21ae1290-0838-4245-adcf-6f901a0d4607
July 2003
Pope, Catherine
21ae1290-0838-4245-adcf-6f901a0d4607
Pope, Catherine
(2003)
Resisting evidence: the study of evidence-based medicine as a contemporary social movement.
Health, 7 (3), .
(doi:10.1177/1363459303007003002).
Abstract
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) emerged relatively recently to describe the explicit process of applying research evidence to medical practice. The movement was high profile, yet not overly successful: many clinicians do not use up-to-date evidence in their everyday work. This article shows how a social movement perspective can be used to analyse the emergence of EBM and shed light on power struggles between segments of the medical profession. It draws on Blumer’s (1951) essay on social movements to demonstrate the continued salience of this approach. The article also presents empirical data from a qualitative study of English and American surgeons to illustrate how EBM provides a focus for segmental conflict within medical practice between ‘art’ and ‘science’, ‘practice’ and ‘evidence’. Together these data and the social movements perspective provide insight into the dynamics of this struggle and help to explain why clinicians continue to resist EBM.
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Published date: July 2003
Keywords:
evidence-based medicine, social movements, surgical practice
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Local EPrints ID: 67205
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/67205
ISSN: 1363-4593
PURE UUID: 31602c2b-0967-42b8-b11d-133528265a35
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Date deposited: 10 Aug 2009
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 18:45
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Author:
Catherine Pope
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